[04/July/2009]

SANA'A, July 04 (Saba) - Days after Yemen announced that all previously H1N1 infected cases were cured, the eighth H1N1 case has been confirmed after a Yemeni expatriate tested positive for the disease.

The expatriate has come from the United States where more than a million people have been announced infected.

The infected case, a man aged 29, was discovered at the Sana'a International Airport, officials at the Public Health and Population said Saturday.

The seventh infected case was announced in the country late last month for a Yemeni expatriate who came from the United States.

Two days earlier, the ministry confirmed all the previous announced cases had been cured.

Late last month, Yemen laid out a comprehensive plan to combat a possible spread of the global pandemic commonly known as H1N1, a measure which came after the World Heath Organization raised the pandemic alert level to phase 6.

Under the plan, Yemen has put aside about $ 5.04 million in finance to provide necessary requirements to fight the pandemic.

Requirements will include 100 anti-H1N1masks, vaccine for a million people, three H1N1 non-contact infrared thermometers that would be placed in the provinces of Sana'a, Aden and Mukalla.

Measures to face the pandemic would be carried out in collaboration with health offices across the republic, with special rooms provided to keep infected cases to avoid further spread.

Though a few of the already infected people around the world have died, the pandemic spreads very quickly in a short time.

Since it first began in Mexico on April 24 and then in the United States, the H1N1 flu pandemic has spread in more than 104 countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni authorities have warned the disease may gain momentum in winter.

Up to 35.000 people have been confirmed infected with the virus globally, of whom almost 200 people died.

FR